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Who are some of the players that have surprisingly impressed you so far this season?
Posted on 9/29/15 at 10:33 pm
Posted on 9/29/15 at 10:33 pm
Bama
Minkah Fitzpatrick, CB - Fitzpatrick was one of the guys who I was excited to watch coming into this season for Bama, but just how quickly he's become a solid player has been very impressive. He's strong in coverage, but he's most impressive to me in his ability to fly all across the field to make tackles, especially for a cornerback
Arkansas
Brandon Allen, QB - Allen is a player who I was way off-base on coming into the season. I was never very impressed by him, and he's definitely proved me wrong. His accuracy has been outstanding this year, and his decision making has been pretty good for the most part as well. He puts much more zip on the ball than I thought he was capable of, and I think it's definitely noticeable how much his rib issues came into play at the end of last season, and how much better he is when he's healthy.
Auburn
Peyton Barber, RB - Barber may have been the least talked about RB in the offseason for the Tigers (I might be wrong, but I remember hearing a lot about Thomas and Robinson) but he's definitely been the most impressive out of the bunch. I feel like he should have been used more against LSU, but overall he's shown to be a great commodity and has pretty good toughness and agility in an offense that's struggled so far this season.
Florida
Jonathan Bullard, DT - Bullard is one of the most explosive players I've seen all season on the defensive line, and he's probably going to make himself a fair amount of $ this season. He's great against the run, and has incredible quickness for a defensive tackle. A couple of the sacks he made on Towles were absolutely filthy.
Georgia
Sony Michel, RB - Michel proved he was a solid RB last season, but this year, he's added to his abilities by proving he can be a huge asset in the slot or catching the ball out of the backfield. It's huge for the Dawgs to be able to get Michel and Chubb on the field at the same time, and bring as many weapons as they can to the table. His ability to run through the tackles is also very impressive, and having him as a back up is almost unfair considering he'd be starting for almost every other team in the conference.
Kentucky
Chris Westry, DB - Westry is another guy who I was excited to watch in his freshman year, especially after all the good things that we said about him in camp, but at 6'4"185 pounds I didn't expect him to be as physical as he would need to be to make an impact as quickly as he has. He's been a huge asset in coverage for UK, and even though he's mad a couple typical freshman mistakes, he should learn from those, and turn into one of the best Wildcat defenders for the next 3+ years if he isn't already there.
LSU
Davon Godchaux, DT - LSU arguably had one of the worst pass rushes in the SEC last year, but with the loss of Brick Haley and addition of Coach O, they have picked things up a couple notches, and one of the main guys to help them do that is Godchaux. He has a ridiculously fast first step and can get into the backfield faster than most defensive ends can. If he can keep up his production, LSU's pass defense is going to be just filthy
MSU
Richie Brown, LB - When I originally saw Richie Brown, I thought he was going to be the typical white linebacker who's slow, misses more tackles than he should, but is a leader. Well the last thing is right with Brown, but he is all over the field on D. Getting married must have done wonders for him, because he's probably the best player on the MSU D right now, and he very deservedly earned the SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors against Auburn. I couldn't be happier for such an awesome guy, and hopefully he can turn his production this year, into an early-mid round draft choice.
Mizzou
Charles Harris, DL - I don't know really why I put a Mizzou D lineman here, especially because I thought Harris was gonna be good, but for some reason, it's still surprising to me seeing how great of defensive ends Mizzou continues to produce. I believe he leads the nation in TFLs and he's an absolute force when it comes to creating havoc in the backfield. Looks like Mizzou has another great DE that's going to cause a lot of problems for their SEC opponents
Ole Miss
Chad Kelly, QB - Coming into Ole Miss, it was fairly well known that Kelly had pretty good speed and arm strength, but I was unsure if he could be a leader for that team. So far, he's lead by example on the field, and is in the top 10 in the nation in pass efficiency. His play on the road in Tuscaloosa was incredible for his first road game (yes, he did get a little lucky with one pass in particular) and he definitely has shown every skill needed, to potentially take Ole Miss to its first SEC Championship game.
SC
Lorenzo Nunez, QB - Nunez is a true freshman out of Kennesaw, Ga and even though I'd heard a couple good things about him from friends at UGA, I was blown away by some of his skills in our game. Nunez is lightning fast for a QB, and even though it was just UCF last weekend, I was impressed that he was so efficient in a situation that he would never have expected to be in starting as a True-FR under Spurrier. If he can build up some confidence in his passing, look out, because he's going to be making plays for a while in this conference
Tennessee
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB - Reeves-Maybin did not get a lot of attention coming into this season because of all the love that Barnett and Maggitt got from the media. Maggitt's injury was pretty costly for the Vols, but Reeves-Maybin has definitely softened the blow with his ability to make plays all over the field, and so far he's probably been the best player on the UT defense. He will definitely be competing for an All-SEC spot at the end of the year with Brown, Ragland, Beckwith, and Brothers and he's also turning into a leader on the Vols defense and is going to have to play huge from here on out in order to give them an opportunity to win the East.
Texas A&M
Christian Kirk, WR - Kirk has arguably been one of the best freshmen in the entire nation this season, and for him to be the lead receiver on an A&M team filled with a ton of studs at that position, shows just how good he is. Kirk has also proven to be a commodity on special teams with his returning skills, and I'm very thankful that by the time UGA plays A&M in 2019 he will be busy making plays in the NFL, instead of in College Station.
Vanderbilt
Trent Sherfield, WR - I'm gonna be honest, I'd never heard of Sherfield before this season, but he has been absolutely killing it so far this season. To be completely fair, he did put up a lot of those numbers against Austin Peay, but for a guy who only had one catch for nine yards last season, he has drastically improved from last season. Sherfield possesses a great ability to get open, and then pretty good strength to come down with the ball. It was huge for Vandy to find someone like him, because opposing secondaries will actually be held accountable through the air, and that can help Webb pick up big numbers on the ground.
Minkah Fitzpatrick, CB - Fitzpatrick was one of the guys who I was excited to watch coming into this season for Bama, but just how quickly he's become a solid player has been very impressive. He's strong in coverage, but he's most impressive to me in his ability to fly all across the field to make tackles, especially for a cornerback
Arkansas
Brandon Allen, QB - Allen is a player who I was way off-base on coming into the season. I was never very impressed by him, and he's definitely proved me wrong. His accuracy has been outstanding this year, and his decision making has been pretty good for the most part as well. He puts much more zip on the ball than I thought he was capable of, and I think it's definitely noticeable how much his rib issues came into play at the end of last season, and how much better he is when he's healthy.
Auburn
Peyton Barber, RB - Barber may have been the least talked about RB in the offseason for the Tigers (I might be wrong, but I remember hearing a lot about Thomas and Robinson) but he's definitely been the most impressive out of the bunch. I feel like he should have been used more against LSU, but overall he's shown to be a great commodity and has pretty good toughness and agility in an offense that's struggled so far this season.
Florida
Jonathan Bullard, DT - Bullard is one of the most explosive players I've seen all season on the defensive line, and he's probably going to make himself a fair amount of $ this season. He's great against the run, and has incredible quickness for a defensive tackle. A couple of the sacks he made on Towles were absolutely filthy.
Georgia
Sony Michel, RB - Michel proved he was a solid RB last season, but this year, he's added to his abilities by proving he can be a huge asset in the slot or catching the ball out of the backfield. It's huge for the Dawgs to be able to get Michel and Chubb on the field at the same time, and bring as many weapons as they can to the table. His ability to run through the tackles is also very impressive, and having him as a back up is almost unfair considering he'd be starting for almost every other team in the conference.
Kentucky
Chris Westry, DB - Westry is another guy who I was excited to watch in his freshman year, especially after all the good things that we said about him in camp, but at 6'4"185 pounds I didn't expect him to be as physical as he would need to be to make an impact as quickly as he has. He's been a huge asset in coverage for UK, and even though he's mad a couple typical freshman mistakes, he should learn from those, and turn into one of the best Wildcat defenders for the next 3+ years if he isn't already there.
LSU
Davon Godchaux, DT - LSU arguably had one of the worst pass rushes in the SEC last year, but with the loss of Brick Haley and addition of Coach O, they have picked things up a couple notches, and one of the main guys to help them do that is Godchaux. He has a ridiculously fast first step and can get into the backfield faster than most defensive ends can. If he can keep up his production, LSU's pass defense is going to be just filthy
MSU
Richie Brown, LB - When I originally saw Richie Brown, I thought he was going to be the typical white linebacker who's slow, misses more tackles than he should, but is a leader. Well the last thing is right with Brown, but he is all over the field on D. Getting married must have done wonders for him, because he's probably the best player on the MSU D right now, and he very deservedly earned the SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors against Auburn. I couldn't be happier for such an awesome guy, and hopefully he can turn his production this year, into an early-mid round draft choice.
Mizzou
Charles Harris, DL - I don't know really why I put a Mizzou D lineman here, especially because I thought Harris was gonna be good, but for some reason, it's still surprising to me seeing how great of defensive ends Mizzou continues to produce. I believe he leads the nation in TFLs and he's an absolute force when it comes to creating havoc in the backfield. Looks like Mizzou has another great DE that's going to cause a lot of problems for their SEC opponents
Ole Miss
Chad Kelly, QB - Coming into Ole Miss, it was fairly well known that Kelly had pretty good speed and arm strength, but I was unsure if he could be a leader for that team. So far, he's lead by example on the field, and is in the top 10 in the nation in pass efficiency. His play on the road in Tuscaloosa was incredible for his first road game (yes, he did get a little lucky with one pass in particular) and he definitely has shown every skill needed, to potentially take Ole Miss to its first SEC Championship game.
SC
Lorenzo Nunez, QB - Nunez is a true freshman out of Kennesaw, Ga and even though I'd heard a couple good things about him from friends at UGA, I was blown away by some of his skills in our game. Nunez is lightning fast for a QB, and even though it was just UCF last weekend, I was impressed that he was so efficient in a situation that he would never have expected to be in starting as a True-FR under Spurrier. If he can build up some confidence in his passing, look out, because he's going to be making plays for a while in this conference
Tennessee
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB - Reeves-Maybin did not get a lot of attention coming into this season because of all the love that Barnett and Maggitt got from the media. Maggitt's injury was pretty costly for the Vols, but Reeves-Maybin has definitely softened the blow with his ability to make plays all over the field, and so far he's probably been the best player on the UT defense. He will definitely be competing for an All-SEC spot at the end of the year with Brown, Ragland, Beckwith, and Brothers and he's also turning into a leader on the Vols defense and is going to have to play huge from here on out in order to give them an opportunity to win the East.
Texas A&M
Christian Kirk, WR - Kirk has arguably been one of the best freshmen in the entire nation this season, and for him to be the lead receiver on an A&M team filled with a ton of studs at that position, shows just how good he is. Kirk has also proven to be a commodity on special teams with his returning skills, and I'm very thankful that by the time UGA plays A&M in 2019 he will be busy making plays in the NFL, instead of in College Station.
Vanderbilt
Trent Sherfield, WR - I'm gonna be honest, I'd never heard of Sherfield before this season, but he has been absolutely killing it so far this season. To be completely fair, he did put up a lot of those numbers against Austin Peay, but for a guy who only had one catch for nine yards last season, he has drastically improved from last season. Sherfield possesses a great ability to get open, and then pretty good strength to come down with the ball. It was huge for Vandy to find someone like him, because opposing secondaries will actually be held accountable through the air, and that can help Webb pick up big numbers on the ground.
Posted on 9/29/15 at 10:35 pm to Dawgsontop34
Kirk is my standout surprise player on the season. he is so explosive.
Posted on 9/29/15 at 10:37 pm to Dawgsontop34
Damn dude, you really did your research.
Have an upvote.
Have an upvote.
This post was edited on 9/29/15 at 10:39 pm
Posted on 9/29/15 at 10:45 pm to Dawgsontop34
After reading the Treadwell vs VH3 thread and the beginning of this one, I believe I could get used to reading knowledgable football threads instead of jr high level insult threads.
This post was edited on 9/29/15 at 10:46 pm
Posted on 9/29/15 at 11:27 pm to Dawgsontop34
Nice write up.
I'm surprised Kyle Allen hasn't trademarked a nickname by now.
I'm surprised Kyle Allen hasn't trademarked a nickname by now.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 12:04 am to Dawgsontop34
Great write-up as always!!!
For Auburn I would also add Kerryon Johnson, TFr., Also plays running back. he reminds me and a lot of other people of Reggie Bush. I hope he continues to replace 'O Button' (Roc Thomas) in the backfield as the speed back. As of right now I could care less if Thomas or Robinson either one see the field again this year.
For Auburn I would also add Kerryon Johnson, TFr., Also plays running back. he reminds me and a lot of other people of Reggie Bush. I hope he continues to replace 'O Button' (Roc Thomas) in the backfield as the speed back. As of right now I could care less if Thomas or Robinson either one see the field again this year.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 12:56 am to Dawgsontop34
How do you have time to know all of this?
Posted on 9/30/15 at 1:04 am to Dawgsontop34
Great post. I'll admit I have grown a bit more distant to football this year, so I can only comment on Bama's sleeper in all good conscience: my pick is Richard Mullaney. He is Coker's Matt Cadell.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 1:09 am to Dawgsontop34
Really solid post. But I have to say that I am not surprised with Sony's success. I think I am more surprised by Malkom Parrish being a complete, lockdown corner. He has really been an undervalued part of our secondary and defense in general. We'll find out more Saturday.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 1:25 am to Dawgsontop34
Christian Kirk and LF have been extremely impressive.
Georgia's QB has been better than I anticipated.
Miss. States defensive line has been very good.
Georgia's QB has been better than I anticipated.
Miss. States defensive line has been very good.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 2:18 am to Dawgsontop34
Bullard is not surprising...for UF it has to be true frosh Antonio Callaway who is just scratching the surface at WR.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 2:31 am to Dawgsontop34
Have an upvote god damn it.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 6:10 am to Dawgsontop34
Great post as usual
Side note: Posters with "Buga" in their name are the worst
Side note: Posters with "Buga" in their name are the worst
Posted on 9/30/15 at 6:27 am to Dawgsontop34
Up Vote! this is why i came to the Rant, not all that HS BS.
Posted on 9/30/15 at 7:09 am to Dawgsontop34
quote:
Dawgsontop34
I always look forward to your posts.
Have another up arrow.
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